According to British information, a ship allegedly hijacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates is free again.
The Maritime Office said on Wednesday that the incident was over.
The British regulator UKMTO did not provide any further details.
The name of the ship was also not mentioned.
According to location data from Refinitiv, the tanker is underway with engine power.
From security circles it was reported on Tuesday that the tanker "Asphalt Princess" had been occupied.
Presumably Iran is behind it.
Tehran rejected this.
Recently, the status of the tanker sailing under the Panamanian flag was unclear. The naval newspaper Lloyd's List reported on Wednesday morning that the armed hijackers had left the ship and the tanker was moving towards Oman. According to Marin Traffic, the status of the 45-year-old tanker was still given as "stopped" on Wednesday. According to vesselfinder.com, there was no movement towards the coast either.
The "Asphalt Princess" was originally en route from Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates to Sohar in Oman. On Tuesday evening it was said that the Omani Air Force was in action with sea reconnaissance planes in the area. On the website Flightradar24 it was seen in the evening that a reconnaissance plane was circling over the area. The Gulf of Oman lies between Oman and Iran. There was no official confirmation of the incident on Wednesday morning either. It was initially unclear who could be behind the alleged kidnapping.
The British Times reported, citing government sources, that a "force" of eight or nine armed men had taken control of the "Asphalt Princess". CNN also reported this. The government in London assumed that Iran or militias allied with it were responsible for the kidnapping. The British Foreign Office said on Tuesday evening that it is “urgently investigating an incident on a ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates”.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry described the incident as "suspicious" and warned against again baseless allegations against Iran. "These continuous incidents for the ships in the Persian Gulf are extremely questionable and suspicious," said Foreign Office spokesman Said Chatibsadeh. Above all, the incidents should not be used as a pretext for the implementation of certain political goals in the region. The security of shipping in the Persian Gulf is extremely important for Iran and therefore Tehran is also ready to offer its assistance, the spokesman said, according to the Isna news agency.
Ships enter the Persian Gulf via the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. The route is considered to be one of the most important sea connections for international trade. The situation in the region is particularly tense for shipping. There had been repeated incidents there. Most recently, a British man and the Romanian captain were killed in a drone attack on the “Mercer Street” oil tanker in the Persian Gulf. Britain, Romania, Israel and the US blame Iran for the incident. Tehran rejected any involvement.
The background to the tensions in the Middle East, which have increased in recent years, is, among other things, the dispute over the international nuclear agreement with Iran. The US unilaterally terminated the agreement in May 2018. Since then, there have been several incidents and acts of sabotage against oil tankers and attacks on oil facilities in the Gulf. The latest incidents come just days before the inauguration of the new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.